Bottom Line:
Pt-decorated nanoporous gold (NPG-Pt), created by depositing a thin layer of Pt on NPG surface, was proposed as an active electrode for glucose electrooxidation in neutral and alkaline solutions.The electrocatalytic activity toward glucose oxidation in neutral and alkaline solutions was evaluated, which was found to depend strongly on the surface structure of NPG-Pt.A direct glucose fuel cell (DGFC) was performed based on the novel membrane electrode materials.

ABSTRACTExploiting electrocatalysts with high activity for glucose oxidation is of central importance for practical applications such as glucose fuel cell. Pt-decorated nanoporous gold (NPG-Pt), created by depositing a thin layer of Pt on NPG surface, was proposed as an active electrode for glucose electrooxidation in neutral and alkaline solutions. The structure and surface properties of NPG-Pt were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The electrocatalytic activity toward glucose oxidation in neutral and alkaline solutions was evaluated, which was found to depend strongly on the surface structure of NPG-Pt. A direct glucose fuel cell (DGFC) was performed based on the novel membrane electrode materials. With a low precious metal load of less than 0.3 mg cm-2 Au and 60 μg cm-2 Pt in anode and commercial Pt/C in cathode, the performance of DGFC in alkaline is much better than that in neutral condition.

Figure 7: Performance of DGFC at various temperatures in 0.1 M PBS containing 0.5 M glucose (a) and in 2 M NaOH containing 0.5 M glucose (b) with NPG-Pt 64 as the catalyst for anode and commercial Pt/C as cathode. The flow rates of the anolyte and the air are 2 and 120 mL min-1, respectively.

Mentions:
Figure 7 shows typical polarization curves of DGFC with NPG-Pt 64 working as anode and commercial Pt/C as cathode catalyst, and Nafion 115 membrane as electrolyte at 40 and 60°C in neutral and alkaline solutions. The loading of the catalyst were 0.3 mg cm-2 Au and 60 μg cm-2 Pt which are three times as much as those in previous experiment. The OCVs (Figure 7a) were almost the same (~0.8 V) at 40 and 60°C and their maximum power densities were 0.14 and 0.18 mW cm-2, which was much higher than the one reported [28]. In alkaline condition (Figure 7b), the OCVs were almost the same too (~0.9 V) at 40 and 60°C and accordingly their maximum power densities were 2.5 and 4.4 mW cm-2, which exceed the reported data [29,30]. By maintaining the concentration of glucose at 0.5 M in 0.1 M PBS and 2 M NaOH respectively, it can be observed that both in neutral and alkaline solutions, the cell performance increased with temperature, which would be due to the faster electrochemical kinetics of both the anodic and cathodic reactions, increased conductivity of the electrolyte and enhanced diffusion rate of glucose and oxygen.

Figure 7: Performance of DGFC at various temperatures in 0.1 M PBS containing 0.5 M glucose (a) and in 2 M NaOH containing 0.5 M glucose (b) with NPG-Pt 64 as the catalyst for anode and commercial Pt/C as cathode. The flow rates of the anolyte and the air are 2 and 120 mL min-1, respectively.

Mentions:
Figure 7 shows typical polarization curves of DGFC with NPG-Pt 64 working as anode and commercial Pt/C as cathode catalyst, and Nafion 115 membrane as electrolyte at 40 and 60°C in neutral and alkaline solutions. The loading of the catalyst were 0.3 mg cm-2 Au and 60 μg cm-2 Pt which are three times as much as those in previous experiment. The OCVs (Figure 7a) were almost the same (~0.8 V) at 40 and 60°C and their maximum power densities were 0.14 and 0.18 mW cm-2, which was much higher than the one reported [28]. In alkaline condition (Figure 7b), the OCVs were almost the same too (~0.9 V) at 40 and 60°C and accordingly their maximum power densities were 2.5 and 4.4 mW cm-2, which exceed the reported data [29,30]. By maintaining the concentration of glucose at 0.5 M in 0.1 M PBS and 2 M NaOH respectively, it can be observed that both in neutral and alkaline solutions, the cell performance increased with temperature, which would be due to the faster electrochemical kinetics of both the anodic and cathodic reactions, increased conductivity of the electrolyte and enhanced diffusion rate of glucose and oxygen.

Bottom Line:
Pt-decorated nanoporous gold (NPG-Pt), created by depositing a thin layer of Pt on NPG surface, was proposed as an active electrode for glucose electrooxidation in neutral and alkaline solutions.The electrocatalytic activity toward glucose oxidation in neutral and alkaline solutions was evaluated, which was found to depend strongly on the surface structure of NPG-Pt.A direct glucose fuel cell (DGFC) was performed based on the novel membrane electrode materials.

ABSTRACTExploiting electrocatalysts with high activity for glucose oxidation is of central importance for practical applications such as glucose fuel cell. Pt-decorated nanoporous gold (NPG-Pt), created by depositing a thin layer of Pt on NPG surface, was proposed as an active electrode for glucose electrooxidation in neutral and alkaline solutions. The structure and surface properties of NPG-Pt were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The electrocatalytic activity toward glucose oxidation in neutral and alkaline solutions was evaluated, which was found to depend strongly on the surface structure of NPG-Pt. A direct glucose fuel cell (DGFC) was performed based on the novel membrane electrode materials. With a low precious metal load of less than 0.3 mg cm-2 Au and 60 μg cm-2 Pt in anode and commercial Pt/C in cathode, the performance of DGFC in alkaline is much better than that in neutral condition.